- oshug - lists.oshug.org

Wuthering Bytes programme published.
by Andrew Back 03 Jul '14

03 Jul '14

Hello, Just to let folks know that the full programme for Wuthering Bytes has now been published. http://wutheringbytes.com/ Cheers, Andrew

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Open Source Hardware Camp 2014, Sat 16 & Sun 17th August.
by Andrew Back 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

Hello, Registration is now open for OSHCamp 2014 and this year we will have in total 12 talks and 8 workshops — details below. Details for the Wuthering Bytes Festival Day on the Friday are yet to be announced, but there are some pretty great talks lined up, on topics ranging from development and testing of rockets, to being a computer programmer in the early 1960s. Speakers include Sophie Wilson, co-inventor of the ARM processor, and Open Rights Group. So, if you are considering attending on the Friday also, I wouldn't hang about as tickets are limited and likely to go fast! Cheers, Andrew // OSHCamp 2014 — 16 & 17th August at Hebden Bridge Town Hall, St. George's Street,Hebden Bridge, HX7 7BY. Registration: http://oshug.org/event/oshcamp2014 Open Source Hardware Camp will take place in the Pennine town of Hebden Bridge. For the second year running it is being hosted as part of the technology festival, Wuthering Bytes. However, this year OSHCamp will have the Waterfront Hall to itself on the Saturday and Sunday, with a separate Festival Day taking place on the Friday and with talks on a broader selection of technical topics. Details of the OSHUG talks and workshops can be found below and the Wuthering Bytes website will be updated in due course with details of the complete programme of events. Note that socials are planned for both the Friday and Saturday evenings, with the former being hosted at the Town Hall and where there will be a bar, food available and music and a live performance, and the latter will be hosted at a local hostelry that serves food. Hebden Bridge is approximately 1 hour by rail from Leeds and Manchester. Budget accommodation is available at the Hebden Bridge Hostel, with private rooms available and discounts for group bookings. Details of other local accommodation can be found at www.hebdenbridge.co.uk. — Saturday :: Talks * Linux bootloaders and kernel configuration Linux is popular in embedded devices, but most use it once the kernel has booted and don't consider how it was started. This talk explores just what happens when you first start an embedded device that is running Linux, and will look at common bootloaders, such as U-Boot, along with kernel boot options. Finally, we will look at useful kernel configuration options for embedded devices. Melanie Rhianna Lewis started a life long love of electronics as a child when her Dad helped her make a "crystal" radio with an ear piece, a coil of wire, a diode and a radiator! At the same time the home computer revolution started and she would lust after the "build your own computers" advertised in the electronics magazines of the time. She never got one but did end up the proud owner of a BBC Micro. Melanie learnt everything she could about the machine and including assembler, operating systems, drivers, interrupt, and, thanks to the circuit diagram in the Advanced User Guide, digital electronics. After the BBC Micro came the Acorn Archimedes and so started a long relationship with ARM processors. In the 90s Melanie became interested in Linux and then developed one of the first ARM Linux distributions running on an Acorn RISC PC. The hobby became a job and Melanie currently works for an embedded device consultancy near Bradford where a lot of her work is still with ARM processors. Recently Melanie became a sporty person and now spends a lot of her time hitting girls. She will probably bore you with tails of roller derby! * Open source archaeological geophysics - is it achievable? The advance of technology into Archaeology has allowed geophysical surveys to "peer into the ground" and direct the diggers to the most likely "targets". However, as anyone whose watched Time Team will know, using Resistivity and Magnetometry doesn't always guarantee results. Such equipment is not usually within the financial reach of most hobbyists. However, the recent explosion of the Arduino, Pi and other cheap electronics has meant making such surveying equipment may be possible. A small research project involving an informal collaboration between members of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society (DAS) & Derby Makers is exploring whether a high accuracy GPS unit, Magnetometer and a resistivity probe can be made and yield worthwhile results within a budget of £1,000. DAS has kindly funded this research and we are about 50% of the way through the GPS project. This talk will introduce the project and take a look at progress to date. Tony Brookes was firstly an engineer and then worked in IT for a while (!) Now working part-time, hobbies easily fill the time available. Drawn to archaeological and historical research by way of Time Team, he now tries to apply open source software (Scribus, Inkscape, Qgis) and hardware (Arduino, et al) to investigating parish history and other interesting topics. * An open source aquaponics control system Aquaponics is a closed system of food production that farms fish alongside vegetables, and this talk will look at the development of an open source aquaponics control system for the Incredible AquaGarden project in Todmorden, highlighting certain features of the design and exploring some of the difficulties encountered and how these have been addressed. A control and monitoring system with an event-driven 'flowchart' interface will be presented, where data about aspects such as pH, temperature and light level etc. are collected and logged in order to monitor the environment. The system responds dynamically to control the level of water in the plant growing bed, to maximise the yield. Some design decisions and technical aspects of the system will be demonstrated and discussed, together with the open source model for sustaining the project. Finally, we will look at the operational Node-RED installation in Todmorden, showing how the system is collecting readings and controlling the water level, and we'll talk about how MQTT has been used to loosely couple the code running on the Arduino with Node-RED on a Raspberry Pi. Gareth Coleman is a inventive hardware hacker who's talent lies in connecting diverse devices. Dr Naomi Rosenberg is a freelance software developer with a background in formal logic who works on a wide variety of platforms. They both get a especially enthusiastic about open hardware, free software and empowering humans. * From Idea to Finished Product: A Tale of DFM and CEM With numerous easily accessible embedded platforms around and concepts such as rapid prototyping and crowdfunding now being useful things as opposed to just buzzwords, designing the Next Big Thing without leaving your study is becoming a common story for makers and tinkerers. While it is true that going from an idea to a finished product has never been easier thanks to the abundance of design resources and affordable manufacturing services, designing for volume manufacturing requires a different mindset that usually does not apply to casual weekend hacks. From component choice to packaging and logistics, there are several elements that needs to be taken into consideration, as they may cause significant headaches otherwise. This talk will provide an overview of electronics manufacturing process, covering details such as managing design data, handling dependencies, component and process choices, testing and certification and several other aspects of DFM: Design for Manufacturability. Omer Kilic is an Embedded Systems hacker who likes tinkering, a lot. He also likes tiny computers, things that just work and good beer. * Driving milling machines with Linux Driving a milling machine with Linux is fairly easy and LinuxCNC (previously known as “EMC”) even provides a real-time distribution install disk. However, driving the machine is only half the story and gcode generation is at least as important. This talk will share experiences using a mill and a router with Linux, looking at PCB manufacture, engraving, 3D milling, casting, tool paths, materials, tools and parametric design. Matt Venn has run hundreds of creative science workshops for thousands of children and adults around the world. For the last year, he has been working with teachers in preparation for the computer science curriculum changes; creating and leading courses, workshops and projects. When he's not inventing new ways of getting people excited about science, Matt plays music, invents puzzle boxes, practices martial arts and maintains bikes. * Oxford Flood Network - easier to Apologise Than to Ask Permission Oxford Flood Network is a citizen sensing project which monitors water levels around the city, in streams, rivers and even under floorboards, sending water levels back to the Internet using low-powered wireless. The network explores the possibilities of a smart city that is created by its citizens, rather than a more typical top-down deployment. Sensor networks are generally used to collect data about us for reasons and agendas chosen by others, but we can build sensor networks too; crowd-sourced data can be gathered for your agenda — providing evidence for your issues. In this talk we will hear how Oxford Flood Network has developed an open source model for hardware and software, and the challenges of sticking mysterious boxes under bridges. Ben Ward is founder of Love Hz, promoting the use of white space spectrum for open innovation in the Internet of Things. A survivor of the dotcom bubble, subsea bandwidth glut and the UK broadband wars, he's still surprisingly optimistic about the future. * An introduction to writing applications for the Parallella board Parallella is a credit card-sized computer with a many-core accelerator that allows it to achieve high floating-point performance while consuming only a few watts. In this talk we will take a look at the Epiphany architecture and how to use the eSDK to write highly parallel applications for it, using hardware and software features to benchmark code and optimise performance. Simon Cook leads Embecosm's work on LLVM and is author of the standard guide to the LLVM assembler. He is also an expert on low-energy compilation and is lead engineer on the MAGEEC project. Simon holds a double first class honors degree in Computer Science and Electronics from Bristol University. * Radio Then and Pararchive: decentralised, pervasive, and open story telling Radio Then is a citywide cultural history experience, telling stories about Manchester’s jazz and popular music heritage using a small, Arduino-powered radio. Participants explore the city and tune in to archival broadcasts related to places, people, and events of note. In actual fact, the ‘radio’ contains GPS and audio breakouts to track its location and cue audio tracks depending on its coordinates. The project is being created to showcase findings from Pararchive, an AHRC project being conducted by the University of Leeds, in partnership with the BBC, National Media Museum, Science Museum Group, and Manchester Digital Laboratory, among others. Pararchive represents an opportunity for members of the public to engage with archives, decentralising the material from archive holders, and offering alternative and personal perspectives on events. James Medd is an artist, musician, and maker based in Manchester. He teaches all things digital in the north west of the UK, and creates whimsical, entertaining, and accessible interactive artworks. He currently leads Arduino Manchester, a community group for Arduino users in Manchester, and will be developing more interactive audio experiences at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio later this year, as a winner of their graduate and new talent competition. * Commercialising your ideas Whether you're taking the time to build something fun, or have a solution to a problem you have faced, you are 'in your own right' an inventor. One of the biggest challenges inventors face isn't making their product work, it's generating a living to continue inventing. Having spent over a decade in both sales and business development I have witnessed people use various methods to overcome this hurdle. I hope to share with you some of my experiences to provide you with some ideas you can take away and use when looking to turn a hobby or bright idea into a financial success. Our topic of conversation will take us from having a light bulb moment, to securing orders and reaping the rewards. William Stone is the Head of Channel Strategy for hardware manufacturer, Ciseco. He is responsible for various commercial areas of the business including the very familiar responsibility of growing Ciseco's rapidly expanding chain of partners and distributors. Now with 36 recognized distributors worldwide, Ciseco has a growing presence and reputation in electronics manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT). * OpenTRV: energy technology that saves householders money The OpenTRV project aims to provide software, hardware designs and excellent interoperability to allow UK and EU householders to as much as halve their heating bills and carbon footprint with simple to fit hardware costing around £100 per house. Everything is freely available under liberal licensing — even our 3D printed enclosures — to enable adoption and cost savings. Damon Hart-Davis gets excited about electronics, parallelism, robotics, distributed systems and resource efficiency, and solar PV and halving space-heating carbon footprint with cheap microcontrollers (OpenTRV) are two of his current passions. Damon has been working on “mission-critical” systems in banking for most of the last 20 years and before that founded one of the first UK Internet Service Providers. * Interfacing with SPI and I2C SPI and I2C are industry standard methods of interfacing IO devices to micro-controllers and CPUs using just a few connections. SPI requires four wires and I2C just two. This talk introduces SPI and I2C. It describes how they work and how you use them. It will look at common IO devices that connect via SPI or I2C. Finally it will look at controlling SPI and I2C devices from two example controllers, the Arduino and the Raspberry PI, in languages such as C and Python. Speaker: Melanie Rhianna Lewis. Compered by: Paul Tanner is a consultant, developer and maker in wood, metal, plastic, electronics and software. His day job is IT-based business improvement for SMEs. By night he turns energy nut, creating tools to optimise energy use. Paul graduated in electronics and was responsible for hardware and software product development and customer services in several product and service start-ups, switching to consulting in 2000. — Sunday :: Workshops Some workshops will provide tools, boards and components etc. However, subject to demand this may involve an element of sharing and please feel free to bring along equipment and components, but note that you must be able to take full responsibility for your own personal safety and that of others in respect to these. Common sense must be exercised! * Let's build a flood network for Hebden Bridge! Split into two teams, one will attempt to install flood sensors on the beautiful Hebden Water just outside the venue, while the other links these these to the Internet using readily available technology. Proven hardware designs will be used to show you how can send water levels back to the Internet using low-powered wireless links, and sustainable approaches to citizen sensing will be explored. Run by: Ben Ward. Workshop notes: you may want to bring wellies if you plan to join the sensor installation team! Also feel free to bring sensors and boards that you think may be useful. * Building applications that sense and respond to the real world Following on from their talk, Naomi and Gareth will be joined by Paulo Marini, the Tormorden project's resident aquaponicist. Together they will facilitate a hack session to help you build applications that respond to the real world. Run by: Gareth Coleman and Dr Naomi Rosenberg. Workshop notes: Bring your own hardware to work on, such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino etc. if you can, and they'll try to find ways to get your projects connected. * Do you want to build a robot? #meArm assembly workshop How about starting with an Arm? With just a screwdriver and enthusiasm you can build an Open Source Robot Arm. If you bring an Arduino or Pi with you, you're free to stay on with your meArm and tinker with the code too. The meArm is a project to get low cost robot arms into the hands of as many people as possible. Started in February this year it's made fast progress through open development. Already "home brew" (those not from the laser forges of phenoptix in Nottingham) versions have been spotted in the UK, Switzerland, the USA and Mexico! Ben Gray is a proponent of Open Hardware and founder of phenoptix, a maker business based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Ben graduated from the University of Exeter with a chemistry degree and a fledgling phenoptix before moving to Nottingham to complete a PhD in theoretical physical chemistry. Through the open hardware movement he has been able explore the wonderful world of electronics and take phenoptix from a pocket money project to the full time job it is today. Workshop notes: Bring along a laptop and, if you like, an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. * Introduction to Bus Pirate The Bus Pirate is a universal open source hardware device that can be used to communicate using various buses, such as SPI, I2C, UART and JTAG, with various devices. The Bus Pirate is, per the designers, intended to "Eliminate a ton of early prototyping effort with new or unknown chips." This tutorial will introduce the Bus Pirate. Describe how to configure it and install the software required to use it. It will then look at some basic interfacing to devices via SPI and I2C. It will work through how you can 'sniff' buses. Finally it will look at use the Bus Pirate as a simple frequency measurement and generator device. Run by: Melanie Rhianna Lewis. Workshop notes: bring along a laptop (Bus Pirate is supported under Windows, Linux and OSX) and, if you can, some hardware to debug. There will be a limited number of Bus Pirates available, but if you have one please bring it along. * Building your first Parallella application This workshop follows on from the previous day's talk and participants will build a simple project which targets the Parallella board and uses all 16 cores of the Epiphany floating-point accelerator. Run by: Simon Cook. Workshop notes: Please bring along a laptop and, if you have one, a Parallella board (a limited number of boards will be available for use by those who do not own one). The real world works concurrently and so can you This workshop will take you through the basics of embedded concurrent programming using an XMOS multi-core startKIT. We will cover basic parallel processing extensions to C (XC) using tasks, interfaces, timers and ports. We will also get some insight into our running code using xSCOPE, a real-time debugging system built in to the XMOS tools. In addition we will use software modules to drop in rich functionality from the open source xCORE libraries. Run by: Alan Wood. Workshop notes: bring along a laptop and any devices you would like to interface. * Design a PCB Shrimp and have it fabricated The Shrimp is a super low cost Arduino clone. It makes an excellent teaching resource, and is usually delivered as a 'breaded shrimp' - using a breadboard. For hackers, it's a great way to knock up a quick, cheap microcontroller circuit. In this workshop we'll make a PCB version of the shrimp — a more robust and Arduino shield compatible version — and you will be guided through the process of drawing the schematic, laying out the PCB and optionally placing an order with OSHPark for your very own PCB shrimp. Participants will be working in pairs. Boards will cost about £6 each. Kits of components can conveniently be ordered from shrimping.itfor £4. Run by: Matt Venn. Workshop notes: bring along a laptop. * OpenTRV build and getting started Kits will be available to solder and boards and cables to buy, along with valves that will be used to demonstrate how you can use Arduino-based technology to halve your heating bill. Run by: Damon Hart-Davis. Workshop notes: Please bring your own soldering iron, solder and AA batteries if you would like to build a kit to take away, and be aware that SMD soldering experience and a steady hand will be required to solder the TMP112 temperature sensor. NOTE: * There are separate tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. * A light lunch and refreshments will be provided each day. * Please aim to arrive between 09:00 and 09:15 on the Saturday as the event will start at 09:20 prompt. With thanks to sponsors: * DesignSpark - http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/ * XMOS - http://www.xmos.com

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#techmums Shrimping workshop this Sunday.
by Andrew Back 06 Jun '14

06 Jun '14

Hello, #techmums in association with Embecosm, RS Components and Ravensbourne are hosting a Shrimping workshop this Sunday for mums, that is free to attend and with activities also being organised for children. It is somewhat short notice, but if you could help spread the word it would be much appreciated. Further details and registration at: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-techmums-workshop-tickets-11638327551 Cheers, Andrew

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OSHCamp 2014 CFP.
by Andrew Back 31 May '14

31 May '14

Hello, This year OSHCamp will be taking place over the weekend of 16-17th August and once again hosted at Hebden Bridge Town Hall (HX7 7BY). Proposals for talks and workshops are invited. There is no theme and topics may include, for example: * Open source hardware projects * Open development practices and principles * Novel/interesting/fun projects built using open source hardware * Tools (hardware and software) * Skills and techniques, e.g. PCB fab, DIY SMT assembly * Relevant technologies, e.g. SPI/I2C bus programming * ...something else relevant to the community! If you would like to give a talk on the Saturday and/or run a workshop on the Sunday contact me off-list. Please note that the deadline for submitting titles and abstracts is Saturday 14th June (yes, only 2 weeks away!) And so if you would like to discuss ideas etc. better to get in touch sooner, rather than later. Cheers, Andrew

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Shrimping workshop, Wed 21st May.
by Andrew Back 20 May '14

20 May '14

Hello, Next Wednesday at the BCS offices and from 2PM-5PM in the afternoon prior to OSHUG, Embecosm will be hosting a Shrimping [1] training session. The main purpose of which is to train #techmums [2] trainers in how to facilitate a workshop at which participants first construct the basic Shrimp circuit and then the POV project. There are a few additional places available for non-#techmums trainers and if you're interested in taking part you can register via: https://events.bcs.org/book/1101/ Cheers, Andrew [1] http://shrimping.it/blog/shrimp/ [2] http://techmums.co/

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TEMLIB
by Sevan / Venture37 14 May '14

14 May '14

Hi, There's a project written in VHDL which implements a SPARCv8 CPU, if any is interested. http://temlib.org/site/ Sevan

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Fwd: [Oxhack] Abridged summary of oxford-hackspace@googlegroups.com - 2 updates in 2 topics
by Ben Ward 06 May '14

06 May '14

Natalie, the OSHUG (Open Source Hardware User Group) people are friendly and know all there is to know about Arduino and more. Hi OSHUGgers, As a member of Oxford Hackspace I got this email below from Natalie Ford at Science Oxford. She's looking for a Science Projects Officer - Arduino project teacher for holidays and after-school clubs. (Not sure if it's full-time, but seems likely.) I thought someone might be interested or have a recommendation. Ben ben(a)love-hz.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Natalie Ford <Natalie(a)monotreme.co.uk> Date: 6 May 2014 17:20 Subject: Re: [Oxhack] Abridged summary of oxford-hackspace(a)googlegroups.com- 2 updates in 2 topics To: oxford-hackspace(a)googlegroups.com Hi folks, We have a job going at Science Oxford teaching programming Arduinos to young people in holiday and after school clubs. These will be free for the participants. This is for a 4 month paid contract. If you are interested in the job see www.scienceoxford.com/jobs. We are also looking for volunteers who might want to help out at one or more club sessions. If you are interested in helping out as a volunteer then contact me. If you know anyone else who might be interested in the job or the volunteering opportunity then do pass this on to them.

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OSHUG #34 — Teaching, Wednesday 21st May.
by Andrew Back 06 May '14

06 May '14

Hello, Registration is now open for the meeting May meeting, which is in just over 2 weeks time and will be on a Wednesday this month. Cheers, Andrew // Event #34 — 21st May 2014, 17:30 - 20:30 at BCS London, 1st Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA. Registration: http://oshug.org/event/34 The thirty-fourth OSHUG meeting will feature three talks that each explore approaches to teaching electronics and programming. — Teaching with the LilyPad Arduino In this talk we will hear about experiences of teaching basic electronics and coding principles via wearable technology and e-textiles, using the LilyPad Arduino — a sewable microcontroller — in workshops with people of all ages at universities, schools at hackspaces. Rain Ashford designs and constructs wearable technology, e-textiles and interactive artworks. A PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, where she is investigating the possibility that wearable technology can be used to augment new forms of non-verbal communication, particularly in the areas of body language and emotion, by the amplifying and visualising of physiological data. She has studied Fine Art, Multimedia, and Electronics Engineering, which has led to her work developing as a convergence of art, programming and electronics. — Raspberry Pi in education Challenges, benefits and experiences with the Raspberry Pi as an educational tool. Matt Venn has run hundreds of creative science workshops for thousands of children and adults around the world. For the last year, he has been working with teachers in preparation for the computer science curriculum changes; creating and leading courses, workshops and projects. When he's not inventing new ways of getting people excited about science, Matthew plays music, invents puzzle boxes, practices martial arts and maintains bikes. — MzTEK: festivals, workshops and take away technologies MzTEK is a non-profit organisation that aims to redress the imbalance of women artists working in the fields of new media, computer arts, electronics and technology. Based in London and supported by Hackney arts institution [ space ], and Centre for Creative Collaboration in Kings Cross, and hosting a range of workshops, talks and self-initiated tinker sessions. In collaboration with partner organisations, MzTEK develop interesting, accessible and curiosity igniting workshops that can be delivered in short time frames and engage a wide audience with varying skills. Working with open source technologies and tools to help ensure that participants continue making and tinkering with the technologies they encounter long after workshops. Furthermore, doing this at festivals and events where the hope is to encounter a broad range of participants and unpredictable work environments! This talk will discuss some previous projects such as the Hacked Human Orchestra, a wearable electronics project devised in collaboration with Guerrilla Science, and suggest ways that thematic focus, together with a well balanced combination of skill acquisition, creativity and fun can enhance workshop delivery. Shauna Concannon is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in communication spaces and constructive disagreement. She has been working with MzTEK for the past few years, developing and facilitating workshops in Processing, Arduino and wearable electronics. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Media and Arts Technology at Queen Mary University of London. Note: Please aim to by 18:15 as the first talk will start at 18:30 prompt.

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Open-source verification
by Chris Higgs 04 May '14

04 May '14

All, I would like to present on the topic "Cocotb" at a future OSHUG event. Cocotb[1] is an open-source Python framework for verifying RTL written in [System]Verilog or VHDL. It has been used to successfully verify multiple large FPGA designs (>500k registers). It also serves to bridge the gap between traditional FPGA/ASIC practices and software developers, as well as helping to introduce agile methodology and continuous integration to hardware teams. Cocotb works well with Icarus Verilog, providing a powerful open-source alternative to SystemVerilog based verification frameworks like UVM which require users to spend many thousands of pounds on simulator licenses. For those wishing to use SystemVerilog without paying for a license it can also be used with the free version of Mentor Modelsim (Altera Starter Edition). A presentation would be a good follow-up to the up-coming ChipHack event to demonstrate one of the possible ways of verifying more complex designs for those wishing to pursue FPGA development further. Depending on the experience and interests of the audience I can present different aspects of Cocotb, e.g. how the framework was designed, co-simulating unmodified software, interacting with the outside world from simulation, SoC driver development, lessons learned etc. Thanks, Chris [1] http://potentialventures.github.io/cocotb/

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Novena
by Sevan / Venture37 30 Apr '14

30 Apr '14

Open source laptop http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop >From the guys who did the hacking SD cards talk at CCC last year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3GDPwIuRKI Sevan

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(no subject)
by 李正义 23 Apr '14

23 Apr '14

李正义中南民族大学/老师武汉市洪山区民族大道182号

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10A rated 5.5mm / 2.5mm DC barrel connector?
by Andrew Back 13 Apr '14

13 Apr '14

Hello, I'm having difficulty sourcing barrel connector sockets rated at >5A, which is bizarre as numerous reputable suppliers sell 12V/10A desktop PSUs that terminate in a 5.5mm OD / 2.5mm ID barrel plug. Yet, no matter how much searching I do I can only seem to turn up 2.5A rated sockets and, at a push, 5A rated. Grateful for any suggestions or insights anyone can offer here... Cheers, Andrew

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OSHUG #33 -- Radio Pt.2 (Networking Literacy Project, Everyone has a radio in them)
by Andrew Back 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

Hello, Registration is now open for the April meeting. Details below. Cheers, Andrew // Event #33 -- Radio Pt.2 (Networking Literacy Project, Everyone has a radio in them) Thursday 24th April 2014, 17:30 - 20:30 at BCS London, 1st Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA. Registration: http://oshug.org/event/33 The thirty-third OSHUG meeting will be the second on the theme of radio, with talks on a bold vision for a project that aims to increase understanding of personal networking, and on a toolkit that lets you build your own physical Internet radio. -- The Networking Literacy Project "Beep-BEEP!" - Some of us will remember the distinctive click when throwing the power switch of a BBC Micro, and the immediate gratifying sounds it made. Thirty years ago, public awareness of personal computing was low, and civil society acted to raise literacy in anticipation of the coming boom. Today, computers are pervasive in everyday life, and their function is increasingly to deliver distributed computing applications. Indeed, we are on the cusp of another era of personal technological progress and growth, this time for personal networking. Understanding and literacy about this is low, while importance and opportunity are high. This talk will explore some of the learning opportunities, and how the technology community could contribute to eliminating the widespread functional illiteracy in this important area of technology. Martin Geddes is an authority on the future of the telecoms industry, ranging from emerging business models to new network technologies. He is a futurologist, writer, speaker, consultant, and technologist. Martin is currently writing a book, The Internet is Just a Prototype, on the future of distributed computing. -- Everyone has a radio in them, it turns out Inspired by the challenge of making a physical radio device that did anything interesting and web friendly, a small team within BBC R&D spent a few days building an Archers Avoider using off the shelf components and free software alongside BBC created custom services for controlling audio IP streams. "Radiodan" is now at v2.0 and consists of open source web-developer-friendly software designed to work on a Raspberry Pi, used for controlling audio streams, getting a device on a wifi network, and controlling buttons, dials and leds, plus a kit of parts, a case and some instructions. This talk will take a look at some of Radiodan's technology, in the context of our goal of making it something that anyone can start to build a radio with. It will also explore why it's important and interesting to widen the pool of people who can make radios, and how a new field for us has changed the way we work. Libby Miller is a producer and developer working in the BBC R&D Central Lab. She currently works on Radiodan, a project about cheap, rapid prototyping for radios. She also works on the VistaTV EU project on the use and visualisation of real-time IPTV statistics, and the MediaScape project, which is about developer-friendly standards for connected devices. Before that, she led the BBC's part of NoTube, including work on APIs to TV for second screens, resolution of broadcast metadata to web metadata, synchronised social experiences, and recommendations and serendipity. Note: Please aim to by 18:15 as the first talk will start at 18:30 prompt.

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Chip Hack, 24th & 25th May at Makespace, Cambridge.
by Andrew Back 13 Mar '14

13 Mar '14

Hello, Another Chip Hack, two day introduction to FPGA programming, is being held over the weekend of 24th and 25th May at Makespace in Cambridge. Tickets went on sale yesterday, which includes lunch on both days, and are only £5 thanks to sponsorship from Embecosm. http://chiphackcambridge.eventbrite.co.uk Over half went in the space of a few hours, so if you would like to take part I wouldn't hang about! For more info, workshop materials, and photos and videos from last year's Chip Hack, see: http://chiphack.org/ Cheers, Andrew

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Hardware Freedom Day 2014 in Manchester
by Michael Dorrington 12 Mar '14

12 Mar '14

Please feel free to forward this to those that would welcome it. * Event: Hardware Freedom Day 2014 in Manchester http://wiki.hfday.org/2014/UK/Manchester * Date: Saturday, 15th March 2014 * Start time: 14:00 * Finish time: 17:00 * Location: Fab Lab Manchester - http://www.fablabmanchester.org/contact-us * Address: Chips, 2 Lampwick Lane, New Islington, Manchester, M4 6BU. - "(for sat nav use M4 6EE)" - http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/53.48140/-2.22107 Details ------- Hardware Freedom Day (HFD) is an annual world wide celebration of Free Hardware with the aim of promoting Hardware Freedom to everyone. This year the event lands on Saturday, 15th March. You can see the teams around the world that will be participating on the HFD 2014 Events Map <http://www.hfday.org/map/index.php?year=2014>. This includes Manchester, UK! The event will be a chance to discuss, show and see Free Hardware. The following topics are for discussion (but other Hardware Freedom topics are welcome): * The anti-Free Hardware Restricted Boot (aka Secure Boot) <http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot> * Novena <http://www.kosagi.com/w/index.php?title=Novena_Main_Page> * Arduino <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino> * Openmoko <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko> * GTA04 by Golden Delicious <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko#Golden_Delicious_GTA04_board> * XiVO <http://blog.xivo.fr/> * Pandora <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_%28console%29> * Ben NanoNote <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_NanoNote> * Crypto Stick <https://www.crypto-stick.com/> * miniCNC <http://www.repairablemachines.com/introduction.html> * OH&A <http://www.ohanda.org/> * OSHUG <http://oshug.org/> If you have a device/design that gives the 4 Freedoms of Free Software as applied to a device/design and would like to tell others about it then please give a talk/demo at this event. If you are going to do a talk/demo then preferably send an email letting us know to: fsuk-manchester-team(a)nongnu.org The event will end with a tour of Fab Lab. Look forward to seeing you there. Location -------- Fab Lab Manchester is a great location for HFD, more information at: http://www.fablabmanchester.org/about-us Parking ------- There is cheap paid parking on site. Public Transport ---------------- The New Islington Metrolink Station <http://www.metrolink.co.uk/stationinfo/Pages/New-Islington.aspx> is nearby. More Information ---------------- More information available at: http://wiki.hfday.org/2014/UK/Manchester Regards, Mike. -- FSF member #9429 http://www.fsf.org/register_form?referrer=9429 http://www.fsf.org/about "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users."

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Qt on Android: Coffee and Code Workshop - London 10/03/2014.
by Andrew Back 06 Mar '14

06 Mar '14

Hello, The BCS OSSG are hosting an event next Monday which may be of interest to some folks: "Learn how to develop and deploy an Android app using Qt or gain insight into why targeting Android makes good business sense! On March 10, hosted by the BCS Open Source Specialist Group, KDAB's BogDan Vatra, the man who ported Qt for use with Android, will be coming to London as part of a 3-City tour. He will conduct a three hour workshop Free to Qt enthusiasts. Not just a simple how-to, this session will include insightful discussions on why things are the way they are, how the internals of Qt on Android work and how Qt itself is deployed on Android devices." http://ossg.bcs.org/2014/01/30/qt-on-android-coffee-and-code-workshop-londo… Cheers, Andrew

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Invitation to connect on LinkedIn
by Jacob Mani 03 Mar '14

03 Mar '14

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Jacob Accept: https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=494kma-hsbgvuii-6r&a=preRegInvite&tracking=… You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Unsubscribe here: https://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=494kma-hsbgvuii-6r&t=uns&tracking=eml-guest… Learn why we included this at the following link: http://www.linkedin.com/e/v2?e=494kma-hsbgvuii-6r&a=customerServiceUrl&ek=i… © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

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MFS Meeting. Tue, 18 Mar. Talk: "The GNU Compiler Collection: How to Use, Port and Upstream the World's Most Widely Used Tool Chain"
by Michael Dorrington 27 Feb '14

27 Feb '14

Please feel free to forward this to those that would welcome it. * Event: Manchester Free Software's March Meeting * Talk: The GNU Compiler Collection: How to Use, Port and Upstream the World's Most Widely Used Tool Chain * Speaker: Dr Jeremy Bennett (Embecosm) (and Joern Rennecke (Embecosm) for Q&A) * Date: Tuesday, 18th March 2014 (3rd Tuesday of the month) * Start time: 19:00 * Finish time: 20:30 (and then on for drinks) * Location: Madlab. (Manchester Digital Laboratory). - http://madlab.org.uk/ * Address: 36-40 Edge Street, Manchester. M4 1HN. - Opposite "Common" on Edge Street, Northern Quarter. - http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/53.48413/-2.23639 Details ------- The purpose of Manchester Free Software is to promote the Free Software philosophy. This meeting will be a talk with Q&A. "The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is 28 years old this year. Originally a C compiler, it now handles many languages (8 in the official distribution) and has been ported to many architectures (nearly 50 in the official distribution). Alongside the compiler are low level binary utilities (assembler, disassembler, linker, profiler, etc.) and a source level debugger (GDB). At 5 million lines of code, GCC is the third largest program in any GNU/Linux system. In this talk we'll look at how to best use the tool chain. Starting with official distributions, we'll look at what is needed to build your own version from source code. We'll then explore what it takes to modify the tool chain, to port it to a new architecture, to test it, and ultimately to have your code accepted into the official FSF distribution. We'll also look at some of the more unusual uses of the tool chain. Its porting to new chips during the design phase to test the hardware design before spinning silicon. How approaches such as iterative compilation and genetic algorithms can double performance compared to -O3. And finally how compilers can use machine learning to work out the best optimizations for your program and even optimize for energy efficiency. Throughout the talks we'll use practical examples from both native compilers (for Intel and ARM) and for cross compilers (such as Atmel AVR and Adapteva Epiphany). We'll also demonstrate the low cost free hardware energy measurement board used to optimize for energy efficiency." Speakers -------- "Dr Jeremy Bennett is Chief Executive of Embecosm, an free/libre and open source software consultancy specializing in tool chain development and silicon chip modelling. A former academic he is author of "Introduction to Compiling Techniques" (McGraw-Hill 1990, 1995, 2003). Joern Rennecke, who leads GCC development for Embecosm, will take questions at the end of the talk. Joern is one of the leading developers of GCC, a project to which he has been contributing for nearly 20 years. He has been responsible for the Renesas SH, OpenRISC 1000, Synopsys ARC ports and most recently has been developing the Atmel AVR and Adapteva Epiphany implementations. Embecosm are currently hiring both trainee and experienced compiler developers. Details at http://www.embecosm.com/careers/." After-meeting ------------- The meeting will be followed by informal discussion and socialising in the bar opposite, Common <http://www.aplacecalledcommon.co.uk/>. There are soft drinks available and there is no pressure to consume alcohol. Location -------- The meeting will take place at the usual venue of Madlab, details above. Ring the bell beside the door to be let in. The venue provides wifi. Parking ------- Around the venue there are parking meter bays that become zero cost after 8pm on Tuesday so you will have to pay up until then and the maximum stay is 2 hours BUT MAKE SURE YOU VERIFY ALL THIS on parking. There are paid parking lots around the venue, they are marked by a blue P in this OpenStreetMap centred on Madlab <http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.4843/-2.2365>. Most of those parking lots are owned by NCP <http://www.ncp.co.uk/>. If you can’t decide otherwise then park in Manchester Arndale <http://www.manchesterarndale.com/directions.aspx>. Public Transport ---------------- Manchester Victoria (MCV) train station, Shudehill tram and bus station, and Manchester Piccadilly bus station are all fairly close to Madlab, see OpenStreetMap centred on Madlab <http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.4843/-2.2365>. Manchester Piccadilly (MAN) train station and Manchester Central Coach Station are not too far away either. More Information ---------------- Information about Manchester Free Software can be found on the Manchester Free Software pages on LibrePlanet <http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Manchester>. Regards, Mike. -- FSF member #9429 http://www.fsf.org/register_form?referrer=9429 http://www.fsf.org/about "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users."

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OSHUG #32 -- Embedded Scripting, 27th March 2014.
by Andrew Back 27 Feb '14

27 Feb '14

Hello, Registration is now open for the March meeting. Details below. Regards, Andrew // Event #32 -- Embedded Scripting (Lua, Espruino, Micro Python) 27th March 2014, 17:30 - 20:30 at BCS London, 1st Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA. Registration: http://oshug.org/event/32 The thirty-second OSHUG meeting will take a look at the use of scripting languages with deeply embedded computing platforms, which have much more constrained resources than the platforms which were originally targeted by the languages. -- Programming a microcontroller with Lua eLua is a full version of the Lua programming language for microcontrollers, running on bare metal. Lua provides a modern high level dynamicaly typed language, with first class functions, coroutines and an API for interacting with C code, and yet which is very small and can run in a memory constrained environment. This talk will cover the Lua language and microcontroller environment, and show it running on-off-the-shelf ARM Cortex boards as well as the Mizar32, an open hardware design built especially for eLua. Justin Cormack is a software developer based in London. He previously worked at a startup that built LED displays and retains a fondness for hardware. He organizes the London Lua User Group, which hosts talks on the Lua programming language. -- Bringing JavaScript to Microcontrollers This talk will discuss the benefits and challenges of running a modern scripting language on microcontrollers with extremely limited resources. In particular we will take a look at the Espruino JavaScript interpreter and how it addresses these challenges and manages to run in less than 8kB of RAM. Gordon Williams has developed software for companies such as Altera, Nokia, Microsoft and Lloyds Register, but has been working on the Espruino JavaScript interpreter for the last 18 months. In his free time he enjoys making things - from little gadgets to whole cars. -- Micro Python -- Python for microcontrollers Microcontrollers have recently become powerful enough to host high-level scripting languages and run meaningful programs written in them. In this talk we will explore the software and hardware of the Micro Python project, an open source implementation of Python 3 which aims to be as compatible as possible with CPython, whilst still fitting within the RAM and ROM constraints of a microcontroller. Many tricks are employed to put as much as possible within ROM, and to use the least RAM and minimal heap allocations as is feasible. The project was successfully funded via a Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2013, and the hardware is currently being manufactured at Jaltek Systems UK. Damien George is a theoretical physicist who likes to write compilers and build robots in his spare time. Note: Please aim to by 18:15 as the first talk will start at 18:30 prompt.

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Fwd: [OSC-Members] Interesting use for old tech
by Jeremy Bennett 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

This came up on the Open Source Consortium mailing list and thought it might appeal to/inspire OSHUG members Jeremy -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [OSC-Members] Interesting use for old tech Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:22:11 +0000 From: Robert To: osc-members(a)opensourceconsortium.org I came across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOMX3deeW6Q First thought; somebody has a lot of time to spare - but interesting and amusing nevertheless. Is that a RPi or an Arduino I see as the controller? Having looked on YouTube I see there's lots more. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGSTYvx5c78 is my favourite so far. Robert. -- Tel: +44 (1590) 610184 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Twitter: @jeremypbennett Email: jeremy.bennett(a)embecosm.com Web: www.embecosm.com

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OpenData + Wearable devices hackathon! 15-16th March at TechHub, Manchester.
by Andrew Back 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

Hello, Details below of an open data/wearables hackathon that may be of interest to folks. Cheers, Andrew // OpenData + Wearable devices hackathon! 15-16th March at TechHub, Manchester. Open Data - Wearable devices - HACK! Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/numbers-that-matter-hackathon-tickets-103683… - What? We've done our studies. We've transcribed audio, shadowed people, documented their stories, captured their concerns, and been receptive to their ideas. We have a body of work relating to what kind of numbers matter to them, how we could realise them, and what kind of devices would work in the field. This leads to our hackathon. We have a body of documentation we'll make available about what people want, how they understand and relate to data around them, and ideas for possible devices. You'll be able to explore and help realise these ideas - either as they are, or from your own perspective. We'll have equipment for you to use, from Raspberry Pis to Arduinos, and experts on-hand who will help you get to prototype. The overall winner from the day, as voted for by a panel of judges, will win the opportunity to take their prototype to a full field trial with support from the Numbers That Matter team. - Who We encourage collaboration between participants - if you don't already have a team to work with, you can meet up with people at the start of the event. It's easier to complete a hack if there's a range of skills and people working together. We'll be making working prototypes of hardware and software on the day, so people with experience in these fields are important team members. Design is a key aspect of usable devices and experiences - teams will need these skills to anticipate and plan meaningful devices Analysis and data processing skills will be needed in your team - knowledge of existing formats and platforms can speed development on the day Entry is open to anyone; professional developers, activist hackers, design students, anthropologists, sociologists, geeks and social entrepreneurs are welcome, as is anyone who feels they can contribute to the day.

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Hardware project input required
by Chris Puttick 07 Feb '14

07 Feb '14

Hi all I've been asked if I can find someone who can provide design input for a product prototype. Project concept has been described to me as follows: a wearable tech device involving tracking and collecting motion data (probably using a gyroscope and accelerometer) and transmit it back to a mobile device wirelessly. Please feel free to ask questions and I'll try and get more detail if I can, or contact me off list to express an interest in being intro'd to the project owner. Thanks Chris -- @putt1ck putt1ck.blogspot.com http://twoten.is skype: putt1ck Opinions in this email are my own and may not reflect that of my clients, past employers, associates, friends, family, pets etc.. Documents attached to this email may be in ISO 26300 format: http://iso26300.info

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Fixing a date for OSHCamp 2014.
by Andrew Back 07 Feb '14

07 Feb '14

Hi All, Last year's OSHCamp was something of an experiment — hosting it as part of Wuthering Bytes — and based on how the event went overall and feedback, we've decided to do something a bit different this year. The idea is that OSHCamp will still be hosted as part of Wuthering Bytes, but that the latter will become more of a festival comprised of a series of events: * OSHCamp will have the Waterfront Hall to itself on the Saturday (10x talks) and Sunday (workshops). * On the Friday there will be a day of talks in the Waterfront Hall on a much broader range of topics (think of the non-OSHUG and crossover talks from WB 2013), with accompanying workshops upstairs in The Space on the Saturday. * Main social event Friday evening. * A number of smaller/fringe events in the week leading up. The dates we are looking at are: August 15/16/17 September 19/20/21 And ideally we need to decide on August or September ASAP. So, any preferences? Improved chances of better weather in August, but obviously a lot of people go away on holiday. Which may not be a bad thing, if you want to take a break in Hebden Bridge :o) Best, Andrew

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FPGA shields for Rasberry Pi and Beagle Bone
by Jeremy Bennett 25 Jan '14

25 Jan '14

Hi all, Has anyone had experience with these boards: http://www.valentfx.com/fpga-logi-family/logi-bone http://www.valentfx.com/fpga-logi-family/logi-pi Kickstarter funded and not yet available, but the price is less than a DE0-nano. Is the FPGA big enough to run an OpenRISC as co-processor? I'm wondering if these would be good platforms for a future ChipHack event? Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1590) 610184 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Twitter: @jeremypbennett Email: jeremy.bennett(a)embecosm.com Web: www.embecosm.com

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Physical Data Privacy Legal Hackathon Project - Feb 8/9
by Info SS 23 Jan '14

23 Jan '14

Hello Everyone, I have been to an OSHUG meeting at C4CC but never signed up to the list, so this is my first post. We are organising a Data Privacy Legal Hackathon at C4CC on Feb 8/9 and there is a project that I am very interested in making for the hackathon competition. It is a physical data privacy sign that can do Do Not Track for people. At C4CC there is a laser cutter and a 3d printer, I have ordered some estimate beacons, have a few Rasberry Pi’s. If this interests you please get in touch. James has offered to run the 3d printer and laser cutter. Now we are looking for at least 1 engineer, 1 developer 1 designer If this interests you please let us know and sign up on the Eventbright Kind Regards, Mark Lizar

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